Monday, November 30, 2015

Hello, hello! I hope all my American friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving this past week. It was pretty quiet in our house - just my mother, my sisters, and a TON of food! We got all dressed up, decorated the house, cooked, ate, and then sat ourselves on the sofa to watch some football. A perfect day, if you ask me!

I've been stitching away on the baby sampler. Since I finished my Gratitude sheep last week, I've been able to dedicate my full time and attention on this one piece. First it looked like this:

And then like this:

And now like this:

The giraffe has grown a lot since last week. Unfortunately, I've completely run out of DMC 720, which I was using for those orange spots, so I'm going to have to work on other bits until I can make it out to a needlework store.

Speaking of needlework stores, since I've been here I've discovered the most amazing LNS I've ever been in! The ones I had in Dubai were okay, but they concentrated mostly on quilting and other crafts, usually with a tiny cross-stitching section, sometimes just a rack of DMC. I had to mail-order most of my supplies. Which is why walking into the Stitch & Frame Shop was like heaven! I went a little nuts...

I bought the next two Little Sheep Virtues I wanted to stitch, Peace and Courage, along with their respective buttons and some of the 28 ct. Coffee Jobelan I've been stitching the series on.

I also bought two Plum Street Samplers charts. I've never stitched a PSS design before, but these two caught my eye. The colors on Blackberry House are gorgeous! And the Party Tarts are just adorable. I checked the back for the finishing details and bought the same tart tins to finish them.

I treated myself to a new pair of scissors, some pretty purple marbleized ones from DMC. And I picked up two random pieces of fabric after poking through their sale basket. Who doesn't need some extra fabric, I ask you?

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Hey there! I hope you're all doing well and keeping warm. The temperatures have really dropped here, but we're staying nice and cozy. I love this weather - I get to wear all my pretty sweaters! Of course this year I've had to put my normal ones away and buy a bunch of maternity sweaters, but it's all right. I'm eight months along now! I can't believe it, it's gone by so fast. Only a few more weeks!

I'm trying to work on the baby sampler as much as possible to get it done in time. Here's my progress this week. First it looked like this:

And now it looks like this:

So I've completely finished the lion, stitched the little bird above him, finished the elephant's frame, and started the giraffe. I'm using the same blending technique on the red bits of the giraffe that I used on the lion.

And I've got a finish to show off! I shared my stitching finish of the Gratitude sheep a couple of weeks ago, as part of our Little Sheep Virtues SAL. Here's how I finished it off:

Sunday, November 15, 2015

How is it the 15th of November already? This year is flying by! It's time for another Gifted Gorgeousness SAL update. This is Jo from Serendipitous Stitching's
baby - we stitch on something that's been gifted to us through
exchanges or giveaways, whether a pattern, kit, fabric, floss, whatever,
and post on the 15th of the month (because it's 2015).

For the last few months I've been working on Prairie Schooler's Two By
Two, gifted to me last year in an exchange with Emma from Emma's Bloglet (you can see my last update here). This is what it looks like now:

I'm at 3600 stitches now, and I'm so, so, so close to being done with the hull! I can't believe how long it's taking, seriously - but finally there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

Lots of stitching done on my baby sampler, too. First it looked like this:

And now it looks like this:

I've made lots of progress on both the lion and the elephant. I've finished stitching the elephant, and I'm just finishing up his frame now. I didn't like the colors charted for the lion's eyes (blue!) and ears (orange!), so I used DMC 975 (a nice brown) instead. I'm leaving all the backstitching for last, which is why they look so undefined.

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Hi everyone! Hope you're all having a wonderful weekend. I haven't been doing much besides reading and stitching, so without further ado, here's how my baby sampler has been progressing. First it looked like this:

And now it looks like this:

I've finally solved the lion problem! I really didn't like the color that was charted (to be specific, I didn't like the DMC conversion I was provided). I loved the effect of the blended colors for the elephant's ears, so I looked back at the lion and decided to do the same thing. So instead of using DMC 347 (very red) by itself, I blended it with DMC 400 (a nice brown), and it's given me this great maroon color, much more subdued. So happy with this decision!

I also got some stitching done on the Little Sheep Virtues SAL:

Gratitude is done! I was supposed to make all the sheep white, but I thought that would be boring, so I used four different colors of Wisper thread. This is more or less 1600 stitches (I can't remember the exact number). I've also attached the cute little Gratitude button. Now I just need to fluff up the sheep and finish it off!

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Hope you all had a wonderfully spook-tacular Halloween! I had a great time - I spent all last week making cardboard tombstones and stringing "spiderwebs" all over the bushes and trees on our front lawn. We staged a "murder" at our garage door by stuffing an old pair of pants and making it look like someone had been "sliced" in half by the door. I had spooky sounds piping out of the window, and if there was a prize for spookiest house we would have definitely won it! I dressed up as a classic witch with the hat and full green face paint, and I had a ball handing out candy to little trick-or-treaters. Our candy supply didn't even last two hours - I had no idea there were so many kids in our neighborhood! We'll be better prepared next year.

Anyway, enough about Halloween. Onto some stitching! My baby sampler is growing and growing. A few days ago it looked like this:

And now it looks like this:

I've finished stitching the grass around the elephant, and I've started his frame and ears. His ears are the same color as the turtle's frame, a lovely blend of DMC 824 and 826. The effect is so pretty!

I've also got an update on the Little Sheep Virtues SAL:

This is Gratitude at 1400 stitches. I've finished the grass and the first sheep, and I've started stitching the second. I'm using Wisper thread to stitch the sheep, as usual, and these little guys are going to look so sweet when I'm done!

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Stitching Friends

Methinks it is a token of healthy and gentle characteristics, when women of high thoughts and accomplishments love to sew; especially as they are never more at home with their own hearts than while so occupied.

~Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun, 1859

Sheep Virtues SAL

"Little Sheep Virtues." Designed by Diane Williams for Little House Needleworks. Stitched on 28 ct. Coffee Jobelan with DMC threads